Big Blue's Transformation

[Nothing Special]

I've probably had the lights on when the covers were on. But I didn't think they were ever on THAT long. Guess I was wrong.

Janey asked me the other day why I had the covers on and I said "Because they are cool." Apparently I was wrong?

Maybe not "cool", but at least they're "hot"!

I ran with covers on the lights on my old Jeep for a while because I liked the look. But I got tired of needing to remove them when I wanted to use the lights, so eventually I got lazy and just didn't put them back on.

[Gary Lewis]

Maybe not "cool", but at least they're "hot"!

I ran with covers on the lights on my old Jeep for a while because I liked the look. But I got tired of needing to remove them when I wanted to use the lights, so eventually I got lazy and just didn't put them back on.

Yes, they were hot at some point in time. And, it just occurred to me that I left the lights on one night and killed the battery. I'll bet that was when they got hot since there was no air whatsoever passing over them.

And I think I'm in the same position as you - we may need them tomorrow so I'll leave the covers off. And the need may be for two reasons: first, we may be driving in rain in the morning, and I drive with the lights on in rain; second, even though the Garmin says we'll be to our stopping point before dark, I don't think it is accounting for the many, many turns we have to take nor all of the stopping we'll do.

[salans7]

But that emblem was well and truly glued in there, so I wound up placing the unit in the vise and milling off the surround on three sides so I could get a knife under it and pry it loose. I did and here's the before & after:

What did you use to glue the emblem back to the chrome surround? I will have to do the same with my Trailer Special emblems so I'm looking for suggestions.

[Gary Lewis]

But that emblem was well and truly glued in there, so I wound up placing the unit in the vise and milling off the surround on three sides so I could get a knife under it and pry it loose. I did and here's the before & after:

What did you use to glue the emblem back to the chrome surround? I will have to do the same with my Trailer Special emblems so I'm looking for suggestions.

Shaun - I used Permatex pipe joint goo. The dark brown sticky stuff. The bottle was sitting there, stuck to the shelf, so I decided to try it. Painted some down the middle, put it on, and pressed it in place with cardboard between it and the lift. Took the cardboard off this morning and the emblem is well and truly stuck.

[mat in tn]

Shaun - I used Permatex pipe joint goo. The dark brown sticky stuff. The bottle was sitting there, stuck to the shelf, so I decided to try it. Painted some down the middle, put it on, and pressed it in place with cardboard between it and the lift. Took the cardboard off this morning and the emblem is well and truly stuck.

with all the great engineering and planning you still had a "hey this oughta work" moment. that's keeping it real.

[salans7]

Shaun - I used Permatex pipe joint goo. The dark brown sticky stuff. The bottle was sitting there, stuck to the shelf, so I decided to try it. Painted some down the middle, put it on, and pressed it in place with cardboard between it and the lift. Took the cardboard off this morning and the emblem is well and truly stuck.

If it's anything like the gorilla snot (glue) somebody used to put the F250 emblems on my parts truck, they aren't going anywhere.

[Gary Lewis]

Shaun - I used Permatex pipe joint goo. The dark brown sticky stuff. The bottle was sitting there, stuck to the shelf, so I decided to try it. Painted some down the middle, put it on, and pressed it in place with cardboard between it and the lift. Took the cardboard off this morning and the emblem is well and truly stuck.

If it's anything like the gorilla snot (glue) somebody used to put the F250 emblems on my parts truck, they aren't going anywhere.

Yes, I thought "Hey, this ought to work", and it appears to have done. The emblem had a bit of bow to it, with the middle being high and the ends low, but just a little. You could tell it did because when you put it in the surround it would spring in just a bit.

So I put the goo on it and held it in with a heavy piece of cardboard wedged to the lift. The next morning the springiness was gone and it is still there after nearly 400 miles, much of it on really rough country roads.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I thought "Hey, this ought to work", and it appears to have done. The emblem had a bit of bow to it, with the middle being high and the ends low, but just a little. You could tell it did because when you put it in the surround it would spring in just a bit.

So I put the goo on it and held it in with a heavy piece of cardboard wedged to the lift. The next morning the springiness was gone and it is still there after nearly 400 miles, much of it on really rough country roads.

Hard to believe it has been 5 days since I posted in here. But I did get a bit done and thought I'd record it.

First, while on the Butterfield trip the clutch pedal pad gave up the ghost. It split at the bottom (I'm holding it upside down in the pic) and rotated on the pedal. So today I dug out the new ones that Vernon sent with the truck and put them on, including the brake pad as the old one was hard and slick.

Then I decided that I wanted to move the console back a bit as the shifter hits the drinks in the drink holders. So I made spacers using 1 1/4" angle and put nutserts in at 3", 4", and 5" back. Here they are mounted:

Then I mounted the console, first in the 4" spot and discovered that it seems too far back, so I moved it to the 3" spot, which takes about 5 minutes. And I think that's going to work. Here are shots of the console at 3" back, with both a side view and a view behind the console, and then the same views at 4" back. You can see that there's a little bit of room behind the console at 3" but not at 4".

We are going to give it a try at 3" and see if I need to put nutserts in at 2".

[1986F150Six]

Hard to believe it has been 5 days since I posted in here. But I did get a bit done and thought I'd record it.

First, while on the Butterfield trip the clutch pedal pad gave up the ghost. It split at the bottom (I'm holding it upside down in the pic) and rotated on the pedal. So today I dug out the new ones that Vernon sent with the truck and put them on, including the brake pad as the old one was hard and slick.

Then I decided that I wanted to move the console back a bit as the shifter hits the drinks in the drink holders. So I made spacers using 1 1/4" angle and put nutserts in at 3", 4", and 5" back. Here they are mounted:

Then I mounted the console, first in the 4" spot and discovered that it seems too far back, so I moved it to the 3" spot, which takes about 5 minutes. And I think that's going to work. Here are shots of the console at 3" back, with both a side view and a view behind the console, and then the same views at 4" back. You can see that there's a little bit of room behind the console at 3" but not at 4".

We are going to give it a try at 3" and see if I need to put nutserts in at 2".

As always, Gary, good work!

[Gary Lewis]

As always, Gary, good work!

Thanks, David. We took BB out for a drive today and put soft drinks in the cup holders. Seems to work out nicely with the console 3" back, and Janey said "It opens the area up a whole bunch", meaning that the floor looks much less crowded now. So I think we'll leave it there for the trip with Bret to the Ozarks at the end of Feb.

Also, I pulled the steering wheel and turned it a couple of notches CW. It was always turned CCW just a bit when going down the road straight, so I'm hoping this will fix it.

But you may remember that the tapped holes in this wheel are different sizes since one was stripped out. I found bolts the right length to get it off, but I wish I'd drilled out and retapped the 5/16" hole to 3/8" to match the other one. I forgot that I intended to do that next time I had the wheel off. Now it is "next time" again.